Teddy bears, Tweety Birds, flowers and other memorials are piling up in Newtown

Members of the community set up a tent to keep the candles, flowers and teddy bears dry at a memorial in the center of Newtown, Conn., after a fatal shooting of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14.

NEWTOWN, Conn. - Off Interstate-84, along Church Hill Road heading into the center of town, the memorials appear almost immediately, including a seemingly endless number of stuffed teddy bears.

A man bicycled past a sign with messages of support Tuesday, an arrangement of flowers beneath.

Fifty yards down the road, wooden angels rose above flowers and teddy bears that had been laid on an embankment. Two young women walked down the sidewalk with four giant teddy bears in hand, to be added at the monolithic memorial where Church Hill Road meets River Side Drive.

At that intersection, beneath the lights of a towering Christmas tree, teddy bears, stuffed chipmunks and Tweety Birds are packed under tents, sharing space with the balloons and flowers and candles that people from all over the town, state, and country have placed to show support.

A Stamford police officer working the intersection said he expects to see the memorials stand at least through January. He said these toys and candles are symbols of hope, something to hold on to, especially through the holidays.

Lee Shaw, who came to Newtown all the way from the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy of Napa County in California, said teddy bears and flowers are a common thread through all memorials around America - whether it's on a roadside or here in Newtown.

"It's no different than having headstones on a grave-site. There's an attempt to memorialize an individual, and to pay honor and respect," Shaw said. "It's a way for people to touch the incident. To touch the lives of the people that have been lost."

He said people come to leave written message, to leave flowers, to place ornaments on the 26 donated Christmas trees lined up in front of the firehouse on River Side Drive - to weep with those who weep.

"It's an important part of our culture, an important part of life," Shaw said. "Whether a person dies on the freeway, you'll see a little cross on the side of the freeway or country road. And those things may stay there for years. Families will even plant trees there."

Which is what Michele Herrmann, of Monroe, suggested. She said she hoped 26 evergreens could be planted on or near the property of the school, to serve as a permanent memorial.

Sean and Jessica McGuire, who recently moved to Newtown, came to the memorial in front of the firehouse Tuesday to show respect, be with their community, and pray.

"I think they should put a cover over it and leave it," Sean said. "Build a permanent structure over it."

Bettina Rossi, of Bethel, stood beneath one of the tents that was propped above the firehouse memorial. While she took the site in, she said she was thinking about its ultimate fate.

"People come here and bring all these beautiful stuffed animals and flowers-what happens to the cards? What happens to all of this? They just get wet. They just get faded. The candles go out. They don't get relit. And then they sit here for how long, you know? And then it just becomes a reminder of what was, and it's not renewed," Rossi said. "It just becomes part of the scenery, I guess. It's sad. Who takes care of it? Who cleans this up? How long does it stay here? That's the question, you know. Unless something is permanently made in memoriam, then this just gets discarded."